Beat Feuz and Niels Hintermann reach the podium in the second World Cup downhill from Kvitfjell. Behind the winner Dominik Paris and the Norwegian Aleksander Kilde, the two Swiss are in third place at the same time.
(sda) For Olympic champion Beat Feuz it is the sixth downhill podium in the World Cup this season, for Niels Hintermann from Zurich it is confirmation of Friday’s victory. Hintermann’s performance on the second downhill run from Kvitfjell is all the more important because he found the conditions far worse than Feuz, Paris or Kilde. When Hintermann started the race with the number 19, the sun had disappeared and he had to drive in the shade and with poor visibility throughout.
beating #Feuz: For the 100th time on a World Cup downhill and on the podium again. @fisalpine @swissskiteam #SwissSki #srfsport #srfski #FIS #fisalpine pic.twitter.com/uSrMUfPInE
— SRF Sport (@srfsport) March 5, 2022
The Italian Dominik Paris got his second win of the season after Bormio. He distanced Kilde by 55 hundredths and prevented the Norwegian from winning his seventh World Cup this winter. Ultimately, this also benefited Marco Odermatt. The Swiss leader in the overall World Cup is still taking on his competitor Kilde with almost 300 points in reserve in the final races in Kranjska Gora (2 giant slaloms) and the World Cup final in Méribel/Courchevel.
Odermatt himself moved up two places compared to the day before and came in 13th. Like Hintermann, he too had less than ideal conditions, which is why he ultimately lost significantly more time to the winner than on Friday.
The fight for the downhill World Cup was reduced to a duel between Kilde and Feuz in just under a week and a half before the last race – with advantages for the Norwegian. Kilde is now 23 points ahead of Feuz. Austria’s Matthias Mayer is 84 points behind Kilde after his 11th place in Kvitfjell.
The big ovations on Saturday didn’t belong to Paris or Kilde, Feuz, Hintermann or Odermatt. The Ski World Cup bid farewell to Kjetil Jansrud, who competed in his last World Cup race. The Super-G Olympic champion from Sochi 2014 and downhill world champion from Are 2019 did not finish in the points; The 36-year-old was nevertheless certain of a standing ovation from the audience and all the athletes in the finish area.
Kvitfjell (NOR). Men’s World Cup Downhill II: 1. Dominik Paris (ITA) 1:43.92. 2. Aleksander Kilde (NOR) 0.55 behind. 3. Beat Feuz (SUI) and Niels Hintermann (SUI) each 0.81. 5. Ryan Cochran-Siegle (USA) 1.06. 6. Vincent Kriechmayr (AUT) 1.20. 7.Jeffrey Read (CAN) 1.39. 8. Maxence Muzaton (FRA) and Travis Ganong (USA) 1.42 each. 10. Josef Ferstl (GER) 1.43. 11. Matthias Mayer (AUT) 1.53. — 13. Marco Odermatt (SUI) 1.76. 14.Johan Clarey (FRA) 1.78. 16.Cameron Alexander (CAN) 1.89. 20.Ralph Weber (SUI) 2.08. 26. Justin Murisier (SUI) 2.22. 32. Gilles Roulin (SUI) 2.53. 37. Stefan Rogentin (SUI) 2.75. 42. Alexis Monney (SUI) 2.89. – 62 drivers started, 58 classified.